Railers pick up three medals on first day

Saturday

May 25, 2013 at 12:01 AM

By Mark Schnabel?Newton Kansan

WICHITA — Newton junior Cory Martens jumped out to an early lead in the discus, but an early throw by Willie Morrison of Leavenworth and a late throw by Cade Sharp of Hays, kept Martens from a state title.?Martens finished third at 161-9, the first of his six attempts in the compeition. Morrison won it with his second attempt at 163-9 and bettered it on his third at 166-5. Sharp moved into second on his sixth throw at 165-5.?"(Sharp) came to throw on his last throw, that was clutch," Martens said. "I don't know where the (Levenworth thrower) came from. Practice this week was really good this week, but you can't mark what you throw in practice."?Martens competes in the final field event session today in the shot put.?Peter Nelson claimed a medal for the Railer boys, taking seventh in the long jump in 21-7 3/4.?"It was a good day today," Newton coach Tad Remsberg said. "State is always a crap shoot. We started out very well, qualifying a lot of people to the finals. We got both our 4x1s in. Then we started struggling. I was hoping to get Matt (Willis) and Sarah (Bartel) in the 300 hurdles, but they were just a little short. Cory threw well today."?Andrea Baron won her heat of the 100-meter high hurdles in 15.70, second overall by .01 seconds.?The team of Hailey Valdez, Larissa Espinoza, Sarah Bartel and Lauren Anderson finished second in its heat of the 4x100-meter relay, fourth overall, in 51.04 and qualifying for the finals.?Kasey Stucky missed a medal by one spot in the 3,200-meter run, finishing ninth in 12:02.14.?Bartel finished 10th in the prelims of the 300-meter low hurdles in 49.25.?Lauren Duerksen finished 10th in the javelin in 111-10.?Anderson finished 14th in the 200-meter dash in 27.15. Larissa Espinoza finished 14th in the triple jump in 32-9 1/4.?Valdez finished 15th in the prelims of the 400-meter dash in 1:07.09.?Matt Willis was fourth in his heat of the 110-meter high hurdles, seventh overall, in 15.35 to qualify for the finals. Willis missed the finals of the 300-meter intermediate hurdles, finishing 10th in 40.95. Willis missed the finals by .19 seconds.?The team of Nelson, Willis, Seth Hill and Alexander Tuszynski finished eighth overall in the 4x100-meter relay in 43.85 to claim the final berth in the finals.?Zackary Alexander finished 14th in the pole vault at 11-6.?Newton has several top throwers still to compete today in the girls' shot put and discus, as well as the track finalists.?"We still have a lot to compete for today," Remsberg said. "We have our throwers, and that has been the strength of the team. We just have to go out and compete well."